Film review: Green Zone

Green Zone. 114 minutes. Rated M. Directed by Paul Greengrass. Written by Brian Helgeland. Inspired by the novel by Rajiv Chandrasekaran.

The stakes (and expectations) surrounding Paul Greengrass's (The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum) 'Iraq War film' were always going to be high. Given that he wrote and directed United 93 – the only film to bring additional perspective to the otherwise cinema-defying aircraft high-jackings that defined the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington – it was always going to be fascinating to see what he (and those who collaborated with him on that astonishing piece of cinema) would make of the resulting conflict. The short answer is, strangely, 'not much'.

It is 2003, and the US-led allied forces' invasion of Iraq has created nothing but pandemonium. As fighter bombers rage through the sky and the civilian population react angrily to the American presence in (and destruction of) their city, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (a constantly frowning Matt Damon) leads his team of soldiers in the hunt for Saddam Hussein's stockpiled weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). As the dangerous search for each likely stash proves fruitless, Miller begins to doubt the integrity of the intelligence reports he is being specifically instructed to follow. And before you can say "… but we already know there were no WMDs", he stumbles across a US Government plan to use the WMD issue to influence the redistribution of power in the fragile (and increasingly hostile) country.

From start to finish, Green Zone pelts along with Greengrass's and cinematographer Barry Ackroyd's (United 93, The Hurt Locker) trademark hand-held camera racing around in, out, over, under, around and through every nook and cranny of the extraordinarily rendered Baghdad (the film was actually shot in Morocco and Spain). Helgeland's (Mystic River, LA Confidential) stereotypical 'good cop, bad cop, even worse cop' script is well-served by the fast and furious pace (edited to within an inch of its life by United 93's Christopher Rouse), even if it does all end up looking and feeling like something that might have been called The Bourne Baghdad Conspiracy.

The essential problem is the film's political opportunism; not only of the motivations behind the invasion of Iraq but also the resulting theories that have given rise to a considerable amount of passionate debate and conjecture. Unlike the cruel and punishing conflict at the hearts of the superior United 93 and The Hurt Locker, Green Zone fatally mistakes floating a raft of opinions about the Iraq war for storytelling. The only time the film draws breath, for example, is towards the end when two great big pieces of anti-war propaganda crash to the ground like ten-ton slabs of cement. Ultimately, however you feel about the circumstances of the Iraq war will define how much you appreciate Green Zone. If cinema masquerading as political grandstanding of the highest order (the last shot's a clunker) is your thing, there's a great deal to enjoy. As a companion piece to United 93, it is truly regrettable … and instantly forgettable.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and an edited version of it was published in the print edition of the Midwest Times.